Doctors frequently prescribe a series of daily medications for their patients. These medications are typically prescribed for consumption at a particular time of the day. For example, if a medication must be taken four times per day, then it is common for a patient to consume one tablet in the morning, one at noon, one in the evening, and one at bedtime. Many patients are therefore faced with taking several medications several times a day. A patient therefore must plan his medication regime each day. Frequently, as a result of travel or running daily errands, the medications must be stored in easily transportable and accessible containers to allow the patient to quickly access them when they are needed. Additionally, since many patients who take multiple dosages of medications are elderly, it is helpful that medication organizers be easy to use and not require a lot of manual dexterity by the user.
Early examples of medication organizers typically provided a means of sorting the separate dosages of medication into separate compartments, but the compartments were typically integral with the organizer and therefore not easily transportable. One early example of this type of organizer is that of U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,477 to Kerpe, issued Mar. 9, 1982 (hereinafter the '477 patent). This patent disclosed a pharmaceutical package having a plurality of containers with each container including an open mouth that can swing open and closed. Each container is sufficiently large enough to receive a plurality of medication. The bottom of each container is concave to facilitate easy removal of the medication stored within. The pharmaceutical package of the '477 patent includes a plurality of containers that are integral with the package and therefore, when the user is planning to travel, the entire package must be transported or the individual containers must be emptied and transferred to separate containers.
Later examples of medication organizers typically provided a device for placing the separate dosages of medication into storage containers such as resealable plastic bottles. U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,085 for example, to Denney, issued Jun. 7, 1988 (hereinafter the '085 patent) discloses a rectangular, open-top shallow tray with enclosing side walls and a top panel with markings designating each day of the week equally spaced across the top. A set of pill boxes reside in individual compartments corresponding to each day of the week with each set of pill boxes corresponding to various times of the day. The pill boxes are frictionally and removably held in place in the tray so that each set of the pillboxes can be individually removed to allow a patient to carry one or more days of medication. Although the '085 patent and similar prior art medication organizers provided an adequate means of organizing the separate medication dosages for each dosage period of the day, the resultant storage containers are typically bulky and awkward to carry. If a patient were planning a week long trip away from home, he would likely be required to carry 28 separate bulky packages corresponding to the 4 dosages per day and 7 days that he were planning to be away from home.
Later examples of medication organizers include that of U.S. Pat. No. 6,293,403 to Holmberg, issued Sep. 25, 2001 (hereinafter the '403 patent). This patent discloses a system for organizing, storing, and dispensing a plurality of sets of separate packets corresponding to the days of the week or the dates of the month. The system includes a packet organizer, which may be a tray or a panel, to arrange the sets and subsets of packets by day or date and time of day. The '403 patent discloses the use of packets which may comprise resealable, flexible transparent envelopes, which must be sealed one at a time by the patient.
Although the '403 patent greatly improved the transportability of daily medication dosages, the packets must be sealed individually and therefore require quite a bit of handling by the user. Frequently, elderly people are those most likely to use medication organizers and, in many cases, it may be difficult or nearly impossible for some patients, especially those with arthritic joints in their hands, to seal individual packets by hand. Sealing of individual packets, such as zip-lock packets, usually requires good manual dexterity on the part of the user.
The '403 patent, while providing an adequate means of organizing medications for most individuals having good manual dexterity, does not provide an adequate means for those patients who lack manual dexterity, such as elderly patients. Accordingly, a need therefore exists for a medication organizer that employs small, easily transportable packages of medication that can be quickly and easily filled, sealed, handled, and reopened by any user, including the elderly and those with poor manual dexterity.